Balance Assist® is a small dollar loan designed to help you manage short-term needs.
In addition to other factors, you must meet the criteria below1:
You have had a Bank of America checking account open for at least 1 year (or 2.5 years if you don’t have a credit score2) and currently have a qualified Bank of America checking account (a SafeBalance® account does not qualify)
You have a positive balance in all of your Bank of America checking accounts3 and make regular monthly deposits
You don’t currently have an open Balance Assist loan and have not opened 6 Balance Assist loans in the last 12 months
Credit-based factors are also considered
Here’s an overview of how Balance Assist works.
An email will be sent to you within 2 business days of submitting your application with a link directing you to a letter explaining the reason(s) why your application was not approved. The letter can be found in the Statements & Documents/Notifications and Letters section of Mobile and Online Banking.
No, you cannot apply for a Balance Assist loan in the financial center or via telephone. The only way to apply for a Balance Assist loan is in Mobile and Online Banking.
You may apply for another Balance Assist loan 24 hours after you have paid off an existing Balance Assist loan. You must meet all credit criteria to be approved for another loan. You may borrow up to 6 times over a 12-month period.
No, the payment due date and payment amount due cannot be changed/modified.
You can repay your loan using Online or Mobile Banking.
No, automatic payments are not required. During the application process you have the option to set up automatic payments. If you did not select automatic payments during the application process, you will need to make payments manually.
Automatic payments are free to set up and make repaying your Balance Assist loan easy. However, auto-payments are not required.
Below is an example payment schedule based on the amount borrowed.
Loan Amount | Fee | Payment 1 | Payment 2 | Payment 3 | Total Payment | APR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
$100 | $5 | $35 | $35 | $35 | $105 | 29.76% |
$200 | $5 | $68.33 | $68.33 | $68.34 | $205 | 14.94% |
$300 | $5 | $101.66 | $101.67 | $101.67 | $305 | 9.97% |
$400 | $5 | $135 | $135 | $135 | $405 | 7.48% |
$500 | $5 | $168.33 | $168.33 | $168.34 | $505 | 5.99% |
While there are no finance charges or fees for late payments, we report your payment history to the credit bureaus including payments made on time and late payments. Late payments and defaulting on a Balance Assist loan will impact your ability to borrow from Bank of America, including potentially receiving a lower maximum loan amount to being declined.
There are currently both email and Online Banking alerts that will remind you of upcoming payments as well as past due and posted payments. These are automatic and cannot be turned off.
The Loan Agreement is located in the Statements and Documents section of the account to which the funds were disbursed within Mobile/Online Banking.
To help you avoid overdrawing, your account will be set to the Decline All Overdraft Setting. This means that if you do not have sufficient available funds in your account to cover an item, the item will be returned unpaid. You may be assessed a fee by a merchant if this happens. While you have an active Balance Assist loan, this setting cannot be changed. However, 5 business days after the loan is paid in full, you can contact us to have your setting changed back.
